Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Bethia Shearer was born about 1844 in Strathbane, Stirlingshire, Scotland – the daughter of John Shearer, a dairyman and carter, and Mary Buchanan.
She came to New Zealand about 1869 and married Charles Galloway, a wheelwright, on 8 November 1872 in Dunedin.
Their wedding day was eventful, the wedding party consisting of over 20 people were returning from Andersons Bay on a large two horse omnibus about 3.30am. While coming down a hill and turning a corner 'at a rapid pace, the spokes in one of the wheels, with the weight on the coach and the speed at which it was going, shivered to pieces, and the coach capsized.'
One passenger badly injured his foot and a few others received cuts including the bride who 'received a slight cut on the forehead.'
Bethia and Charles had two sons and when she signed the suffrage petition they were living in Cumberland St, Dunedin.
Charles died at their home in 1909 and Bethia died on 5 May 1917, they are buried together in the Northern Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/
Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.
Community contributions